Results tagged “discriminationlawsuit”

Mayor Bloomberg was back in court for the third time in three months, giving a three-hour deposition in the second discrimination case he's had to deal with lately—this one brought by the Justice Department after complaints of unfair hiring practices from the Vulcan Society of black firefighters. The Times reports Bloomberg testified that he "did not recall receiving a report more than six years ago warning him about sharp differences in the passing rates between white and minority candidates for firefighter jobs." The mayor was not expected to testify until he went off about the case, unprompted, during his Congressional testimony in support of Sonia Sotomayor. The case may now head to trial this fall to determine if there was intent in the city's alleged negligence. A lawyer for the Vulcans said, “We’ve presented documents to him showing that the proportion of blacks in the Fire Department...is lower than the proportion that was in the Fire Department in the 1990s. (Bloomberg) dismissed that as minor differences — unimportant — at the same time that he said that he and the city have a great interest in expanding diversity."

Mayor Bloomberg spent several hours today being deposed by the federal government. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit in 2007 against the mayor's company, Bloomberg LP, for discrimination against women and accused the mayor of creating a "systemic, top-down culture of discrimination. Though the discrimination allegedly occurred after Bloomberg became mayor in 2001—one example is that former Bloomberg LP CEO Lex Fenwick allegedly said, "I'm not having any pregnant bitches work for me"—but one complaint claimed Bloomberg told a top saleswoman who said she was pregnant, "Kill it." CityRoom reports that one plaintiffs' lawyer said Bloomberg was cooperative, "The mayor is a very smart, sophisticated person and I think his demeanor is the way it normally would be... He happens to be a very good witness." A Bloomberg LP spokesperson said, "We are confident that once all the facts come out they will demonstrate that the claims have no merit."